JP3224672B2 - Resource acquisition method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the assignment of resources, such as service circuits, to communication calls.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Modern communication systems have widely used intelligent service circuits having voice recognition and flexible announcement functions for realizing call services. Services using this type of intelligent service circuit include automatic call origination cards and voice message services. Since these intelligent service circuits are relatively expensive and frequently use common resources such as huge databases, it is necessary to concentrate these intelligent service circuits on service circuit nodes that can be accessed from multiple switches. It has been found to be economical. Otherwise, such a service circuit may be provided by each switch. Both such arrangements have disadvantages. By implementing a service circuit in each switch, the size of the service circuit group can be kept relatively small, and these service circuits tend to be less utilized than if they were members of a small group in a common facility. . On the other hand, by concentrating the service circuits in the SCN, there is a delay in service for the call. Because the exchanges and SCs that provide services for calls
N, that is, it is necessary to set up a connection with the service circuit. These operations cause a call setup delay, and the access side switching system and the accessed side SCN
This requires a significant use of processing resources.

[0003]

Accordingly, a problem with the prior art is that access to a large or efficiently utilized group of sharable resources, such as intelligent service circuits, can be substantially delayed. There is no satisfactory arrangement to implement without inefficient use of resources to control access to the service circuits.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aforementioned problems are solved in accordance with the present invention, and advancements are made over the prior art. In the present invention, a plurality of switching systems are provided by a group of network paths that are semi-permanent, i.e., temporarily dedicated and not released between calls, over a public switched telephone network (PSTN). Connected to a system including a resource group such as an intelligent service circuit such as a service circuit node. In the arrangement according to the invention, the call setup time is reduced, while the efficient use of a large centralized service circuit group is possible. According to one aspect of the invention, a semi-permanent PSTN path is set up from the service circuit node to the switch. The number of such paths may be changed dynamically in response to traffic needs at each switch and / or according to pre-programmed instructions. These semi-permanent PSTN paths are maintained for multiple calls until a reassignment is requested. The arrangement according to the invention enables efficient use of the semi-permanent PSTN network connection and reduces call setup time.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, if minimizing call setup time is more important than minimizing the number of service circuits, a subgroup of service circuits is connected. A semi-permanent is assigned to each of the switches, and a semi-permanent connection between the assigned circuit and the semi-permanent PSTN path is established in the switching network of the service circuit node. The advantage of this arrangement is that the realization of the priority service is simplified. While making only certain service circuits available to others,
It is also possible to assign.

If multiple service circuits are required for a single call, an arrangement is preferred in which only the path through the PSTN is semi-permanent. This allows different service circuits to be connected simultaneously or sequentially to the path via the switching network of the SCN.

In accordance with one particular embodiment of the present invention, each of the dedicated intelligent service circuits comprises a semi-permanent path and a switch and a S
It is connected via a semi-permanent path connecting the CN to one port of the access exchange. By connecting the requesting side to one port, the access-side switch directly completes the connection to the intelligent service circuit.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the size of the service circuits assigned to a subgroup of semi-permanent PSTN paths and / or a particular switch is varied to respond to traffic changes.
As a result, the size of the subgroup for switches generating a larger amount of traffic than usual for a certain switch is increased, and the subgroup for switches generating a relatively small amount of traffic for a certain switch is increased. The size of the group is reduced.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the size of the subgroup is automatically changed according to a pre-planned schedule that takes into account time and / or day of the week. Since known shifts in the traffic pattern can be pre-planned, the number of cases where no service circuit is available is minimized. In such an arrangement, the advantages of a large centralized service circuit group can be realized without incurring the delay associated with setting up a particular connection for each use of the intelligent service circuit.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a plurality of exchanges 2,... Over a trunk line and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). . .
Service circuit nodes (S
CN) is shown. Each switch is connected to the PSTN and thus to the SCN via a plurality of trunk lines, such as trunk lines 15 and 16, connecting switch 2 to the SCN 1 via the PSTN. ing. The size of the trunk line group is set to be appropriate to meet the demand for the maximum number of intelligent service circuits expected to be accessed simultaneously from the exchange 2. In FIG. 1, the SCN is directly connected to the trunk line.
The exchange 4 connected to 1 is also shown. This switch is located near the SCN. The SCN is
It has a control processor 14 for controlling the operation of the SCN under the control of the stored program. Further SCN1
Are the trunk lines 15,. . . , 16, etc. to the intelligent service circuits 12,. . . , 13 are connected to one another. Each switch 2,. . . Reference numerals 3 and 4 denote a processor 21 for controlling the operation of each switch, and input lines or backbone lines 23,. . . , 24 when the connection to the intelligent service circuit is required.
5,. . . , 16 connected switching network 2
Two.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program for allocating a semi-permanent PSTN connection to different exchanges. Block 201 is executed whenever the system is initialized. This initialization comprises the steps of allocating a PSTN circuit to each access-side switch, setting up a connection to the switch, either directly or via the PSTN, and notifying the switch that the connection has been set up. . Then, in some cases, the assigned service circuits are connected to these semi-permanent connections inside the SCN. Thus, timing, such as a shift from daytime allocation, where many service circuits are used by switches mainly handling business traffic, to nighttime allocation, where many service circuits are used by switches mainly handling traffic from homes. Semi-permanent PST in response to a signal
A change in the assignment of N paths is made. In response to the identification of this timing signal (block 203), the assignment is changed according to a predetermined arrangement. Thereafter, block 205
In, some of the semi-permanent paths are disconnected and some are set up, and the connected exchange is notified.

If desired, the arrangement for allocating the semi-permanent connection is for the purpose of allocating the service circuit to a particular switch and for setting up the connection in the SCN switching network between the semi-permanent PSTN path and the service circuit. And can be used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation performed in the exchange. In block 301, a request for a service circuit is detected. This request is detected in the process of handling the communication call. Block 303
In, the availability of the port connected to the SCN is checked. If the port is available, a connection is set up between the requester and the available port, ie the SCN. In some cases, the SCN may have already set up a connection to the service circuit over the network. If all ports are not available, a message is sent to the SCN (block 307). This message is only sent if more than one fault is encountered within a given time or if the unavailability of the service circuit in the switch is detected at an excessive rate. Thereafter, an unavailable signal is sent to the requestor. This is because there is no service circuit available to handle the request. The requester waits in a queue (block not shown) such that another request is initiated if the connection to the service circuit is broken, or simply repeats periodically.

FIG. 4 shows the assignment of the PSTN circuit to the SCN.
4 is a flow chart showing the operation of one algorithm for changing to a different switch being serviced by the same. If a service circuit is assigned along the path, this program will also assign the service circuit. The program is started from block 401. Tests 403 and 405 are used to repeat the loop for all switches sharing the same SCN service circuit. If test 403 is performed first, the number of the first switch is entered. Test 40
3 is used to determine whether the use of the service circuit by a particular switch has exceeded the threshold for that switch. This use is a part of the use of the PSTN circuit assigned to the switch. This part may be part of the PSTN circuit assigned to the switch occupied for some suitable period of time, for example 10 to 20 seconds. If this utilization exceeds the threshold for the switch, an attempt is made to assign one or more additional PSTN and / or service circuits to the switch. This is the process that starts at test 409. If the usage has not exceeded the threshold, it is checked in test 405 whether the last switch has been tested, and if not, the number of the switch to be tested is incremented and returns to test 403. . If test 405 determines that the last switch has already been tested, the procedure ends
At 07, another procedure is processed.
If the usage exceeds the threshold for the switch, a test 409 determines whether a number less than the maximum allocatable semi-permanent circuit is allocated. If so, the circuit is allocated (block 411) and a test 405 is made to continue or terminate the loop that tests for overuse for all switches. If it is determined in test 409 that the number of circuits allocated is already the maximum, a test 413 is performed in which the switch lowers the utilization threshold by reducing the number of circuits allocated to the switch. It is determined whether it will be exceeded. The usage threshold for each switch is a predetermined parameter stored for each switch. If a switch exists that can reduce the number of circuits without exceeding the utilization threshold, then a circuit is allocated from that switch (block 415) and test 405 is performed again. If there is no switch that can reduce the number of circuits without exceeding the utilization threshold, nothing is done and the process proceeds to the end block 407. Test 4
09 may be performed as a result of receiving (block 421) a message sent from the serviced switch (block 307 of FIG. 3). In such a case, the process proceeds to the end block 407 without entering the loops 403 and 405. In order to prevent one switch from using too many service circuits, it is desirable to limit the number of semi-permanent paths to one switch other than the steps described above.

The above description relates to one embodiment of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can consider various modifications of the present invention, all of which are within the technical scope of the present invention. Is included.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, access to a large or efficiently used group of sharable resources such as intelligent service circuits can be reduced with a substantial delay. An arrangement is provided for realizing the control of service circuit access without inefficient use of resources.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an operation of an arrangement according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a program executed in the SCN to realize the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a program executed in the exchange to implement the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program executed in the SCN to realize the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Service circuit node 2, 3, 4 Switch 10 Public switched telephone network 11, 22 Network 12, 13 Intelligent service circuit 14, 21 Processor 15, 16 Backbone line 23, 24 lines

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Stuart James Lark United States 60187 Illinois, Wheaton, Oakview Drive 1035 (72) Inventor Paul Raymond Sands United States 60440 Illinois, Bolinbrook, Ranford Drive 410 (56) Reference Reference JP-A-3-253159 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04M 3/42 H04Q 3/545

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A resource acquisition method for acquiring one of a plurality of service circuits, wherein the service circuit is used when connecting to a customer line from a switching system, and wherein the service circuit includes a service. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises: (A) a plurality of semi-permanent communications between the switching system and the SCN. Assigning paths; (B) establishing a semi-permanent communication path between the switching system and the SCN for each of the assigned paths; and (C) in the switching network of the SCN. Establishing a semi-permanent connection between a service circuit and said established communication path; Acquiring one of the assigned paths from the switching system, thereby, resource acquisition method characterized by a step of obtaining a service circuit as resources. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of allocating some of said plurality of service circuits to calls from said switching system. 3. The resource acquisition method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of changing the number of paths allocated to said switching system in order to cope with a change in resource requirements for said service circuit. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the change of the number is performed in response to a pre-programmed time indication. 5. The resource acquisition method according to claim 3, wherein the change in the number is performed in response to a change in the degree of utilization of the service circuit from the switching system. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the change of the number is performed in response to a request message from the switching system. 7. The method according to claim 7, wherein the change of the number is performed by allocating an additional semi-permanent path when the number of allocated paths is smaller than a maximum allocated path for the SCN. 6. The resource acquisition method according to claim 5, wherein: 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the changing of the number is performed by deallocating a path to another switching system and allocating an additional semi-permanent path to one of the switching systems. The resource acquisition method according to claim 5, wherein: 9. The semi-permanent path of said another switching system, wherein said de-assignment of said path to said another switching system is performed when one of the paths to said another switching system is de-assigned. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method is performed when the ratio is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. 10. A resource acquisition method for acquiring one of a plurality of service circuits, wherein the service circuit is used when connecting to a customer line from a switching system, and wherein the service circuit is a service circuit. The method comprises: (E) a plurality of semi-permanent communications between the switching system and the SCN, wherein the method is provided at a circuit node (SCN), the SCN serving a switching system. Allocating paths, wherein these communication paths are switched via at least one intermediate switching system of a public switched telephone network, and (F) between said switching system and said SCN for each of said allocated paths. Setting up a communication path of the switching system, wherein the setting is initiated by the SCN; Changing the number of assigned paths to the switching system to accommodate the changing requirements for the service circuit of (H) obtaining one of the assigned paths from the switching system. (I) the changing step is such that, when one of the paths to another switching system is deallocated, the ratio of the semi-permanent paths of the another switching system is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold. Wherein the method is performed by de-allocating a path to said another switching system and allocating an additional semi-permanent path to said switching system. 11. A resource acquisition method for acquiring one of a plurality of service circuits, wherein the service circuit is used when connecting to a customer line from a switching system, and wherein the service circuit includes a service. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises: (A) a plurality of semi-permanent communications between the switching system and the SCN. Assigning paths; (B) establishing a semi-permanent communication path between the switching system and the SCN for each of the assigned paths; and (C) in the switching network of the SCN. Establishing a semi-permanent connection between a service circuit and the established communication path; and (D) And a step of acquiring one of the assigned path from serial switching system, in a semi-permanent as the communication path between the SCN and the switching system, the said switching system SC
Providing a switchable connection between at least one switching system and at least one switching system.